As of Wednesday, August 12, 2020, Montana reports 5,268 confirmed COVID-19 cases, with 175 new cases reported in the last day: 75 in Yellowstone County, 24 in Rosebud County, 16 in Big Horn County, 15 in Phillips County, 12 in Gallatin County, 9 in Missoula County, 5 in Flathead County, 3 in Hill County, 2 in each of Blaine, Broadwater, Lake, Park, and Stillwater Counties, and 1 in each of Beaverhead, Deer Lodge, Lewis & Clark, Roosevelt, Sanders, and Silver Bow Counties. Statewide, 301 people have been hospitalized, and 97 people are currently being treated in the hospital for COVID-19. Yellowstone County has had 1,387 cases so far. The counts of total cases have changed: Gallatin County on Tuesday reported 978; on Wednesday, 959 total coronavirus cases so far. The number of active coronavirus cases in Montana is 1,590. The most active cases are in Yellowstone County, with 652 active cases, while Gallatin County has 38 active cases. 80 people have died in Montana of COVID-19. Nationwide, more than 165,000 Americans have died. Flathead County is reporting their third death from COVID-19. A person over the age of 65 died of complications related to COVID-19. And Yellowstone County is reporting their 31st death related to COVID-19. A woman in her 80s died in a Yellowstone County hospital.

A new Stanford study shows that teens who vape are up to 7 times more likely to get COVID-19 than non-e-cigarette users. One young vaper who survived coronavirus said, “Being a 21-year-old, I should not be spending six days in the hospital for lung complications.” Before coronavirus, pulmonologists, pediatricians and parents were battling a different nationwide health crisis: the “epidemic” of teen vaping. Last year, more than five million high school and middle school students reported using e-cigarettes, inhaling mysterious nicotine-filled juices with little sense of the long-term effects. Then, this spring, an unfamiliar virus began sending scores of patients to the hospital with failing lungs. Vaping puts people at much higher risk for coronavirus because e-cigarettes can damage lungs and alter the immune system, making each coronavirus exposure more likely to trigger an infection. The aerosol emitted from e-cigarettes could have droplets containing coronavirus, which could then be spread to another person or re-inhaled into one’s lungs. Many vaping social norms — hand-to-mouth contact, passing e-cigs between friends — are also high-risk pandemic behavior. It’s hard to exhale a cloud of smoke with a mask on. People who used cigarettes and e-cigarettes in the previous 30 days were also almost five times more likely to experience COVID-19 symptoms like coughing, fever, tiredness and difficulty breathing.

The Missoula County Public School Board of Trustees passed a motion late Tuesday night to start Missoula schools on Wednesday, Aug. 26 in a phase 1 – hybrid model, with students returning to school for in person learning two times a week with remote learning on the remaining days. The Bozeman Public School District will follow the same model.

A Georgia school district that had quarantined more than 850 students and staff after just six days of school now has closed a high school and has more than 1,200 students and staff in quarantine due to the coronavirus. The Cherokee County School District, based in Canton, Georgia about 40 miles north of Atlanta, closed the high school Tuesday, just eight days after its schools reopened. The school district’s outbreak of coronavirus infection and COVID-19 illness was caused by students infecting one another. The school district does not require masks. The Georgia school district warned that because of the coronavirus cases, more schools could be closed.

A North Carolina dog died after an acute illness and tested positive for coronavirus. The dog was brought to the North Carolina State Veterinary Hospital in Raleigh on Aug. 3 after showing signs of respiratory distress earlier that day, The person who brought the animal to the hospital told staff members that a family member had tested positive for coronavirus. The dog appears to have contracted the disease from its owner. The dog died later the same day it was taken to the vet.
Thirteen cases of coronavirus and COVID-19 among dogs have been reported in eight states, including an earlier positive antibody test in North Carolina. Several cats have also contracted the disease. So have eight lions and tigers at the Bronx Zoo. Last month, National Geographic reported that the first dog to test positive in the United States — a 7-year-old German shepherd from New York named Buddy — died on July 11, six weeks after he was confirmed to have the disease.

Dr Pepper has been added to the list of things people may struggle to find at grocery stores, and it’s all because of COVID-19. The brand tweeted that it was seeing a pandemic-induced shortage in stores.